Memories
by Artificial Sanctuary
Summary: "I'm going to take your picture, so you better smile." Crack pairing. Joshua x Alessa.


**Memories**

"Joshua..."

The small little boy pursed his lips as he gripped the crayon tightly in hand; focusing his dark eyes on what he was drawing as he ignored the girl who was standing before him.

"Go away, I'm busy." He told her carelessly. The girl's frown became weaker as she tilted her head to watch the boy before moving forward with her black shoes making small taps on the ripped up grim tile flooring of the hospital hall.

"My name is Alessa." She told him in her soft shy voice, lowering down to sit on her knees as her pale hands gripped the fabric of her blue school dress.

"I was wondering if you wanted to play." The young boy looked up, his features dark as he squinted his eyes to Alessa.

"Why would I want to play with you?" Kindly ignoring that comment, Alessa smiled and her eyes drifted off.

"Well, It gets pretty lonely here and you look to hold some good company." The brown colored haired fell from her face, showing the burn marks that seemed to had become permanent on her cheeks.

"I just want Robbie back, I want my toy."

Josh stated and returned back to coloring, finding the girl to be strange. Alessa continued to give her warm smile.

"Robbie the rabbit, that's your toy isn't it?" When no reply was given, Alessa got up from sitting and dusted her dress off.

"I'll find him for you." It was stated as a promise as the girl hummed and skipped off around the hospital, finding a room filled with baby incubators and a blood dripping hole in a wall, an overly happy stuffed pink rabbit face stuck out. Quickly she went over to it and pulled it out with ease, smiling down at it as she could return to the boy accomplished.

"Hey, what are you doing with that?" An older man's voice shouted and turning with a gasp and eyes wide, Alessa saw in grim lighting, a brown haired man bearing a knife. In fear, she ran from the room, passing him by and returning to the cell where Josh was kept.

"I found Robbie." She said and returned to sit on her knees, offering the toy that sat in her hands. Josh looked up with interest and took the toy from her hands, setting it beside him as still he gave an uneasy look to Alessa.

"Can we play now?"

She eagerly asked and boxes of crayons were pushed before her and a sheet of dirty paper.

"Whatever." Alessa took the box and picked out a black crayon as she then drew a picture of her own. A black cross, a body pinned to it. Then she took a red crayon, drawing what looked to be a pit of fire and then fire that trailed on the body.

"I see you like to draw rabbits." She noted as she looked to the artwork the boy was creating. "Yeah, they're pictures of Robbie." Josh explained softly, adding red color to the eyes of the rabbit being on his paper, lost in his coloring.

"What does Robbie mean to you?" She asked curiously.

"He's my friend; My brother gave him to me." His brother was maybe that was the man from the room. "Alex..." Josh said in a whisper almost, chuckling afterwards as the red crayon swerved down the page from the pink rabbit's body.

"What are you drawing?" He then asked. Alessa then smiled and looked down at her drawing as she raised it in her hands and then it burst in flames and fell in ashes, her hands open as some were caught in her palm.

"A memory." She replied.

"Why are you here?"

"The same reason why you are, Josh." She told him and dropped her hands to allow the ashes of her drawing fall to the floor.

"I'm supposed to be dead; I'm just a memory for my brother." Josh sighed and then dropped his crayon out of his hand as he then stood up from the floor, dusting his shirt off and then his pants, looking to Alessa with a frown.

"I'm a memory as well, one of a girl who was sacrificed by the church." The burned girl spoke softly, her chilly voice acting and feeling like snow. The youngest Shepard boy opened his mouth to speak but looked to the door of his cell as his name was called.

"Josh!" That tall figure from before was back and Alessa felt herself tense as she held no power over this world but instead, Joshua did. Looking over to him, the boy grinned and then grabbed her hand as he ran down a hall away from his brother.

"What about your drawings?"

Alessa questioned, looking back at the now lonely crayon box and drawings left behind.

"I can make more." Josh said and ran past a blackened being, heavily breathing as it staggered and an orange glow pulsed behind it's torn skinned ribcage. The smog ignored the two as it moved to attack the eldest of the Shepard children. Finding every corner of the 'hospital' to be dark and grim didn't imitate either of the children as they kept running and running until freedom was but steps away.

"Josh, where are you taking me?" Alessa questioned, knowing she was but a spirit and couldn't go much farther than the edge of the insane world that had been created.

"Anywhere away from my brother," The words were hatefully spat and the hold on the girl's hand tightened a bit.

"I can't go everywhere with you Josh, I'm bound to this world." Alessa tried to explain, her brown eyes dead and holding hollow emotion of bittersweet energy.

"You're my friend, aren't you?"

That made her eyes go wide, that was definitely something unexpected to hear.

"I...Josh, you don't need me, you have Robbie." Alessa quickly supplied, knowing it wasn't best to get so attached to someone, mostly someone who was still somewhat human. They had stopped running and the young boy turned on his heels to stare face to face with the memory being.

"Alessa," The shaggy haired boy spoke and released her hand as he stepped back from her. Staring face to face, the girl gripped the bottom hem of her dress tightly in one grip as the other was in the boy's hand.

"Don't move." Alessa blinked as she watched the boy dig into his pocket.

"What are you doing?" She asked curiously, tilting her head so bits of her long brown hair covered his burnt face.

"I'm going to take your picture, so you better smile."

That shocked her as she remained frozen in place as the camera was lifted and directed at her. Slowly, a faint smile formed on her lips and a flash of white light appeared and the Polaroid picture stuck out from the camera. The small picture fell out onto the peeled tile flooring and it remained there as the camera was tucked away and Josh pulled his dull colored shirt down to cover the pocket.

"Wait," Alessa said as she looked down at her picture then to Josh.

"Don't I get to take a picture of you?" Her voice sounded saddened, her brown eyes weak as she wanted to hold the memory of what her new friend looked like. Josh sighed and shrugged as he pulled out his camera and looked down at it.

"I guess." He mumbled and handed it out for the girl to take. Josh tried to fix his hair as he looked to Alessa and waited for his picture to be taken. A creepy childish giggle came from her lips as she looked to Josh and raised the camera, smiling from behind it as it gave a flash. The dark nervous expression of the boy came out faint on the Polaroid and fell from the camera to the floor, landing on top of Alessa's.

"See, now we both have a memory of each other."

The memory said as she bent down to see the two photos. One showed a light skinned girl with brown hair over her shoulders as a soft smile was at her face, her brown eyes bearing the same emotion. The other was of a boy with hair still shaggy as his hazel eyes were wide and a grin on his face. There was then a loud slam of a door as footsteps were heard and soon grew louder as they came closer.

"Josh? Joshua!" The voice from before called and the eyes of the younger brother widened as he instantly grabbed Alessa's hand, trying to pull her into a run, making her drop the camera to the floor.

"We have to go." He announced softly to not be heard. The girl held back as she looked down to the photos in sad panic.

"What about the photos?" She asked, not wanting to leave the memories behind. They were worth more than any drawing she could create.

"Leave them behind." Josh hissed as he forced her to move forward with him, running as fast as he could down the next hall and around another corner.

"We'll make memories another way."

The brunette girl bit her lip as she looked to Josh sadly and squeezed his hand.

"Just don't leave me alone, okay?" She spoke up as she didn't want to be alone as she had always been forced to be, to not have one friend. She didn't want to be in the world anymore, the world wasn't her own anymore and she didn't want to kill any more people. While panting, Josh looked back to her, the holes in his sneakers not even able to slow him down.

"I promise," He said and watched tears rush past Alessa as they were forced from her eyes from the adrenaline of the run, a soft hopeful smile peaked on her features as she braced herself for whatever would come next as her hair flowed in the rush of the wind and past her pale face. The photo left behind was swept up from the sudden rush of escape and lazily fell back onto the floor to be side by side.

_"You and I are going to be together for awhile."_

Was spoken in a soft whisper as the two disappeared into the darkness of the mad world of the mental hospital. The sound of childish laughter was heard through the halls; Alex Shepard shifted his hazel eyes at the sound as his flashlight shined down the eerie hallway of the hospital, his boots crunching above the peeling tile of the flooring. Making his way on the quest for his missing younger brother, the man moved slowly and cautiously as he then paused before what looked to be photos on the ground before him. Bending down on one knee to pick them up, he examined one and then other. The first, A sad looking girl with frizzy brown hair, her eyes dull as they were focus and her skin ash like as black smudged her features and her blue dress was faded.

The other, A grim looking boy with a frown on his face as his hair was in order and bags were under his cold staring eyes, his face holding no color. The man set the photos back onto the ground as he stood up and put his hands in is jacket pocket, shaking his head as he gave a small 'heh'.

"What a pair, wonder who they are." The photos were left behind as the man continued on, changing back to the smiling cheery children as a very aged camera rested beside them.

Leaving only one of the memories of the two ghost children behind.

* * *

**I truly love crack pairings. =)**


End file.
